My First Post - Is it Worth Waiting??
#17
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My wife has successfully used C-class Benz sedans for years as real estate car, no problem. The back seat isn't much bigger than the IS. The key to usable back seat room is having driver and front seat passenger of modest height, leaving reasonable leg room.
Back to the sport package requirement being topic here, they are somewhat rare cars and probably less than 20% of total available.
Back to the sport package requirement being topic here, they are somewhat rare cars and probably less than 20% of total available.
There are two sport models I am looking at now(both 08's) that seem reasonably priced. Once is a nice 3.5-4 hr drive, so getting there to test drive it is a bit tough. However, Im assuming, it probably handles slightly better(if it does) and is just .4" lower. Its not like it has a different ECU and drives completely different(atleast not that I have seen )
#20
Your cheapest option suspension-wise would be a very low mileage sport package car if you can find one and like the current ride height, or a car that already has had the shocks changed if you can live with the ride height (put the VINs of your prospective cars in on the Lexus website to check service records).
When I got my IS350 used with around 110k miles, 2/4 original shocks were leaking and the ride quality was not good as a result. I paid $400 to get the existing springs installed on new F-Sport shocks. Probably would have been worth it to get coilovers, but there wasn't much reliability data available for the ones I looked at and rebuilding them every 25k as some people reported would have gotten expensive very quickly.
I am also not a fan of the wood grain so I did the 3M 1080 Carbon Fiber look vinyl wrap (there are threads about it on here). I took all of the trim out of the car and spent many hours on it but there are certain areas that didn't turn out as well as I hoped, like the corners of the cupholders and retractable cupholder top. In my experience, those curves are too tight for it to come out flat and stay that way (either the vinyl will rip when you heat it up and stretch it, or the adhesive won't be strong enough when the car gets hot causing it to curl up and then rip when you attempt to flatten it back out. But passengers don't notice these little things and are impressed with the look. Hydro dipping will look better than vinyl wrap, but cost more.
Oh, and the heated/cooled seats are worth it if you live in a cold/hot climate!
Last edited by andper10; 04-24-15 at 05:03 PM.
#24
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#25
IMO, the ISF isn't worth the additional price over the IS350 as a daily driver, especially considering the gas mileage hit you take. It isn't that much faster than the IS350 until you get above 100mph. But the ISF would make a better track car and it might depreciate less.
2008 Lexus IS-F 0-60 mph 4.2 | Quarter mile 12.6
2007 Lexus IS 350 0-60 mph 4.8 | Quarter mile 13.3
http://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle...-60-mph-times/
2008 Lexus IS-F 0-60 mph 4.2 | Quarter mile 12.6
2007 Lexus IS 350 0-60 mph 4.8 | Quarter mile 13.3
http://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle...-60-mph-times/
#26
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IMO, the ISF isn't worth the additional price over the IS350 as a daily driver, especially considering the gas mileage hit you take. It isn't that much faster than the IS350 until you get above 100mph. But the ISF would make a better track car and it might depreciate less.
2008 Lexus IS-F 0-60 mph 4.2 | Quarter mile 12.6
2007 Lexus IS 350 0-60 mph 4.8 | Quarter mile 13.3
http://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle...-60-mph-times/
2008 Lexus IS-F 0-60 mph 4.2 | Quarter mile 12.6
2007 Lexus IS 350 0-60 mph 4.8 | Quarter mile 13.3
http://www.zeroto60times.com/vehicle...-60-mph-times/
Locally there are no ISF's around, but I have a buddy who works at Lexus and they just had an 08 come in with 53k miles for 21k. May go take a look.
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Nashtyboy
IS - 2nd Gen (2006-2013)
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10-28-07 07:23 PM